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Preparing my Death Song — with focus and humility

IF YOU OPENED THIS PAGE expecting to see the lyrics of a death-themed song I wrote or a picture of me sitting at a grand piano singing my death song by the river side (or around the cemetery for that matter), then I'm so, so sorry to disappoint you.

I know the subject of death is not what many evolving mortals are very comfortable with; but for those of us who have ever sat or laid quietly and sincerely said hello to their Souls and asked, "what is the purpose of my life on Earth?", we know that death is really not such a distressing reality to the Soul that is transformed by death after all. Thus for me, the idea of "preparing my death song" actually means living according to what I hold dear; it refers to finding my life's purpose and how I strive every hour of everyday to fulfill that purpose.

I see my life as a promise; and I see my purpose as consciously fulfilling that promise. Many would say our respective destinies are fixed; but I bet only our fates are fixed, not our destinies. As I have written elsewhere, "...human beings shall always be aimlessly tossed around by circumstances for as long as they believe that they are creatures of external conditions; but when they begin to see themselves as purposeful and creative powers, they may command the hidden soil and seeds of their being from which (favourable) circumstances grow; and they then become the rightful masters of their destinies." In other words, your fate is what life gives you; but your destiny is what you do with it.

So, what is the promise... what is the purpose of my life?

Simple: The most important promise... the most important purpose of my life on Earth during this incarnation is to conduct my affairs in such a way that for every single day that I live, for every major action that I take, the dream of at least one person will come true; I mean... a major burden shall be lifted off the shoulders of at least one person; I mean... at least one person will be able to smile and breathe easier because I lived.

And how am I consciously fulfilling this promise, this purpose of my life?

Simple: Way back in 2008, I had wished upon just one star; and now that simple wish upon a star had translated into what I call "Vision 50 by 50". It is a plan to sponsor the education of fifty randomly selected female children to school, up to university level, before or by the time I am 50 years old on Earth. Those girls must be “strangers” who are not related to me by blood, nor may they be of the same tribe, religion or geographical origin as myself. They don't necessarily have to come from poor homes and they don't necessarily have to be geniuses. I only need to be able to connect with them at a higher (spiritual) level and that is all.

I know this idea of sponsoring the education of some 50 people within so short a time is quiet a tall ambition (I'm already past 30 and my financial status currently is just so, so meager!). But it has been started and as at the time of the original writing of this (April 2011), five people were benefitting: one in a nursery school, two in secondary school, and two studying degree programmes in the university. As at the time of reviewing this page however (March, 2014), The number of beneficiaries have grown to 22!

Other than this major vision, I also actually sing (not just prepare) my death song day in day out by constantly seeking to love my life, to improve my life, to beautify all things in my life and to make my life long and of service to people.

And talking of service to people, that includes paying for the eye sights of the blind to be restored, teaching for free, and more recently too, reaching out to some friends in foreign countries to solve some of their pressing financial problems.

Besides all of that, I also like to write down (my thoughts, plans and even fantasies); for by so doing I am able to, as Henry David Thoreau did counsel almost a century and a half ago, "employ a certain portion of each day in looking back upon the time which has passed, and in reckoning my daily gains, that I may be able to detect whatever false coins have crept into my coffers, and, as it were, in settling accounts with my mind..."

As a human being, I sometimes do get terribly overwhelmed by life's hard blows of course; but I do have a few tricks that help me continue to softly sing my death song day in day out, irrespective of the challenges. My tricks are few but important:

When I rise in the morning, I give thanks for the light, for my life, and for my strength.

I also give thanks for my food and for the joy of living.

And if I see no reason to give thanks, I know the fault lies in me so I meditate to resolve the fault.

ALL of the above 'tricks' I learnt from the lengendary Tecumseh, who was born sometimes around March 1768 under the augury of a shooting star – hence Tecumseh means "Panther Across The Sky". I love him because of his philosophy on life and death: especially in connection with his saying: "prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide." Uttered centuries ago, Tecumseh's "Death Song" message outlives his legend – it still rings a familiar note of life's purpose deep within me (you can read more about him here).

So in conclusion, this is how I am actively preparing and singing my death song every hour of every day; fully aware that I am actually building for eternity; fully knowing that every gentle word, every generous thought, every unselfish deed will become a pillar of eternal beauty in the life to come. And I am doing this fully aware that, as Henry Drummond did put it, I will find as I look back upon my life (when I am old) that the moments when I have really lived, are the moments when I have simply done things in a spirit of selfless love.

I have no scientifically demonstrable proof, but I do have the Soul awareness which assures me that as I always strive to utilize myself as a source of comfort to this grim world as we know it, I will at the end know the true prosperity that comes out of serving others who have nothing, and who may never even have the chance of coming round to me to say "thank you". My Soul awareness about all these assures me that because God blesses every single day that I positively make somebody smile, then when my time on Earth is up I shall be dying like a hero going home rather than be like those, as Tecumseh puts it, "whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way."

And now, what is your own death song; and how are you (or when will you start) singing it? How are you living your life so that when your time comes to die, you shall not be like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way?

Before I close, I wish to share with you someone else's perspective on this same subject matter. Said in different words, this person's writing expresses the same ideas as I have tried to do here, I guess. The sad thing is, I can't remember exactly where I got it from or who the original author is. The excerpt:

Sometimes we live as if we can escape death. Les Brown says, “You're not going to make it out of life alive!” No one survives life, so stop playing it so darn safe. One of my favorite quotes is from Helen Keller, she says, "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long-run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

From the moment you are born you begin to die. You think that you're living, but you're not living ...you're dying!

So the question is "How are you dying?" Is it a very long, meaningful, purposeful, and spectacular death, or an ordinary flop?

What will we remember of your death?

You have to Become

You have to give this game of life everything you've got; you have to play for “all the marbles!” Your days are numbered, the hours are passing. Time, it waits on no man.

So don't spend your years attempting to avoid every little mistake, spend your time becoming what your creator destined you to become, no matter how difficult the task. It may seem like “if it's your destiny, it should come easily and naturally,” but that's not the way it works! You must qualify for your destiny; you have to fight for your right to succeed.

And if you ask me, I'd say this is something worth seriously thinking about – if you have ever bothered to sincerely question the purpose of your life, that is!